Keep Going
by walkingdread
Summary: One-shot following the events of Last Day on Earth as the group comes back home.
The silence amongst the group on the ride back to Alexandria was deafening. No one had said a word since they left the Hilltop where they left an inconsolable Maggie to be treated with Aaron by her side. Their absence along with their fallen family member created an atmosphere in the RV that left everyone in shock. It felt like Negan had taken a bat to every single one of them.

Despite the absence of three members of the family, the RV was crowded with the remaining eight. With Abraham behind the wheel and Sasha riding shotgun, Eugene, Rick, Michonne, Carl, Rosita, and Daryl filled out the back.

Rick stared at Carl sitting across from him. His son hadn't looked up since they left the clearing several hours before but Rick hadn't noticed any tears in his eyes, which worried him even more. He didn't know how to take care of his son after what they had witnessed. He worried about Carl's sanity and how this would affect him. His son stayed stone faced as he looked down at his sheriff hat now lying in his lap.

Rick's gaze shifted from one face to the next as he looked at all his distraught friends and family until he landed on Michonne sitting next to him, the only eyes that met his. The worry in her eyes echoed his and he knew she felt the same. He nodded and she rested her head on his shoulder as they continued on the road back home.

Alexandria didn't feel the same when they stepped out of the RV. The hope he once felt when he looked around at the houses and people walking down the streets was gone, replaced by fear of loss and sadness for the ones who would soon find out they were one man down.

Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Daryl walked into their home as the sun rise beamed through the windows. Once inside, Daryl walked into the kitchen holding his wounded arm and grabbed a bottle of whiskey out of the cabinet as Rick and Michonne watched. He sauntered past them without so much as a word or a glance in their direction and slumped down into a chair in the living room and drank straight from the bottle.

Rick cleared his throat as he turned back to Michonne, "I'm going to get Judith from Gabriel, I'll be right back." Carl looked up at him for the first time, "I'm coming with you." As they left, Michonne walked over to the sink and grabbed a cloth from the cabinet. She gripped the edge of the counter as some of the events of the last twenty-four hours played through her mind. The smell of the van she had been locked in with Daryl, Rosita, and Glenn for hours. The fear she felt when the saviors ripped her vest off of her and cut off a part of her hair. She had felt violated. She slowly reached for the spot on the back of her head where she was now missing a couple dreads.

The four of them had barely spoken the entire time they were held captive by the saviors, apart from Daryl's protests that they should have never come after him and Michonne's concerns about Daryl's wound. She thought about the pure rage she felt when Negan spoke to Carl and taunted Rick about his son. She would never forget Rick's expression when Negan threatened Carl's life. The sounds of Maggie's screams were a constant soundtrack playing in her head and she wondered how Maggie was doing since they left her in the Hilltop's care several hours ago.

Brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Daryl's cough, she turned on the tap and ran the cloth through the water until it was thoroughly wet then wrung out the excess water. As she entered the living room Daryl continued to ignore her presence and took another pull from his whiskey bottle. She dragged the coffee table up to his chair and sat down facing him until he finally looked at her.

"What?"

"Let me see your arm", she demanded.

"Why?"

"Just let me help you" she begged, exasperated.

He shifted in his seat and lifted the bottle back to his mouth before mumbling, "What's the point?"

"The point is we have to keep going no matter how hard it is and no matter _how much we blame ourselves",_ she said looking him directly in the eye with the last statement. She knew he blamed himself for Glenn's death because he was out there to bring Daryl back to Alexandria and Daryl had a hard time with grief. It hurt her to see members of her family so broken and without hope. With another swig of the bottle, Daryl sat up and turned his injured arm toward Michonne.

She wiped the dirt out of his bullet wound as she noticed the tears in his eyes.

"It's not your fault Daryl."

"He wouldn't have been out there if it wasn't for me-"

"Bullshit."

She stopped cleaning his arm and focused her eyes on his.

"Even if he hadn't gone out there to get you he would have been right by Maggie's side on that RV."

"So what? It was my idea to get involved with the saviors in the first place! I was the idiot who claimed to be able to take out Negan's group for a stupid cow and some crops. I got us into this shit."

Michonne didn't know how to respond and she knew her silence would only make him think she agreed with him. She grabbed his arm, "Daryl-"

They were interrupted as Carl and Rick walked back though the front door. Carl sat down on the couch holding Judith close as she took in her surroundings. The four of them watched her as the innocent little girl looked at them with a smile on her face completely unaware of the hell they had just been through. She could see the impact Judith's presence had on Carl. He looked like some of the weight of the previous day had lifted. She could also see how grateful this made Rick to see his children together and home. Rick went over to them and kissed Carl and Judith on the head before slowly climbing the stairs to his bedroom. Michonne watched him as he took each step slowly as if the last 24 hours had added 100 pounds to his body. She turned to Carl, "You should get some rest."

He responded with a sigh as he stared at his baby sister lovingly, "I think I'm gonna stay down here with Judith for a while", he paused for a moment "besides, I don't think I'd be able to sleep anyways."

Michonne glanced over at Daryl, who was watching Carl and Judith, before heading up the stairs. She got to her and Rick's bedroom and the door was slightly ajar. Slowly nudging it open, she stepped in to see him lying on his back on the bed with his arms draped over his eyes, fully dressed except for his boots and his jacket, which was now lying on the floor. She noticed something poking out of the pocket of his jacket and reached down to grab it. Pulling it out she recognized the two locs Dwight had cut from her head. She stood still in the middle of the bedroom staring at the pieces of hair in her hands when he spoke, "I thought I'd lost you."

She let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, "Where did you get this?"

"They were tied to a walker at a road block the saviors set up along with your vest and Daryl's jacket and arrows."

She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she saw the flash of pain in Rick's eyes as he relived that moment.

She took off her boots and crawled into to bed next to him, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same to her. He pressed his lips against her forehead as they lied there holding each other. A while had past and she could still feel Rick's normal breathing letting her know that he was unable to fall asleep too. She shifted her body so she could lay her head on his chest and held him tighter. For a moment in that clearing she thought she was going to lose him too. It could have just as easily been her grieving the loss of the man she loved instead of Maggie.

"What did they do to you while you were in that van?"

She knew he was awake but she wasn't expecting that question. She wasn't sure what his thoughts had settled on but she knew she had to relieve him of them fast.

"They didn't do anything to us really, apart from cut my hair and take mine and Daryl's stuff. They left us alone in there for hours until we heard you guys show up."

She could feel the air release from his lungs and his chest sink as he breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up at him and he met her gaze. She couldn't imagine what Maggie was going through right now having seen her husband killed right in front of her. She didn't want to imagine being in that position herself, especially when she thought of Carl and Judith without their father. She placed her hand on the side of his face and pulled him into a soft kiss. Despite the horror they had just been through, she felt safe in his arms again. Their lips lingered on each other's as they took comfort in one another. Pulling away she looked him in the eyes once again.

"I love you."

His eyes started to well as he held her tighter to his chest and whispered, "I love you too."


End file.
